I have finally clicked “POST GRADES” on my last class for the semester. The finals are all stacked up neatly and ready to be returned to the students. And I am DONE DONE DONE! I truly love my job (parenting wins, but teaching is great too! LOL) but the paperwork involved is insane. Really. It is.

It follows you wherever you are: classroom desk, reminders written on post-it notes scrunched quickly into pockets or my purse, email (everywhere!), class web page updates, in the car next to the kids day-care bag rides my school BAGSSSSSS, and on every spare surface in the family room/office of the house. Teaching paperwork hangs around link a lingering perfume. And after a while, you are almost drowning in it. And it never ends.

I am just getting better at carving out time for me and my family. There are several hours each day when we are just here together – wherever that may be. But together? Always.

And now both babes are engaged in conversation and action (the baby just sat up for the first time tonight by herself!), life is getting good. The Chicklet and I have been whipping up cookies, rolls and pancakes like nobody’s business. And she has some interesting ideas for flavors. In her mind, everything needs a little cumin. I’m fairly certain that this influence comes from two things: (1) my mention of needing milk and cumin as the purpose for our grocery trip MONTHS ago and (2) her dad will eat anything and EVERYTHING with cumin in it. ;D

I know I’ve been stressed about the paperwork/semester finals etc when we’ve made several batches of cookies. And once again, it’s fabulous to have colleagues to happily volunteer to munch on your test batches of cookies or my booty would seriously needs its own zip code.

Do you have a favorite cookie flavor?

I enjoy peanut butter cookies and my sister’s blue ribbon winning “Aunt Selma’s Oatmeal” cookies. But when I decided to make some cookies, a couple things came up. First, I’m not a fan of using vegetable shortening any more. I can really taste it after making something with it. So that was something I needed to modify from the Aunt Selma’s recipe. And two: I wanted some chocolate! And that is always a happy thing – unless there isn’t a lot of chocolate in the house.

Anyway, after a few attempts, I have my perfect hybrid recipe. This one is easily adapted too. I’ve used it with almond nut butter in lieu of the peanut butter. I’ve used peanut butter and sliced almonds (instead of the oatmeal) too. I’ve used my GF flour mix with delicious results, and my favorite batch used just millet and sweet rice flours. YUM! Oh – and you can make large or small cookies – and even freeze the little dough balls for “cookies on the fly” if you would like. (This was particularly helpful for me as I am the only cookie-sweet-tooth in the house.) And there is no need for gums of any kind.

Genius, right?

Well, okay. Not really. But it is fabulously tasty. And I will continue to make this recipe over and over again. I think my next trip to the store will involve some hazelnut butter, sliced almonds and dark chocolate chunks. It’s going to be a fabulous weekend.

Quickly and carefully (so as not to mash them) mix in the chocolate chips and chocolate chunks.

If you are freezing the cookies, form in to the size ball that you want. Place the balls on a plate so that they are not touching. Place the plate of cookie balls with a loose covering of plastic wrap in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. When the balls have hardened and are no longer super-sticky, move them into a freezer-ready package (freezer bag or other type of freezer container). Use as you would any other frozen cookie ball. Remove as many as you wish and bake at 350F for 15-18 minutes (small cookies) or 22-25 minutes (larger ones). Watch the baking time as it will vary based on the size of your cookie, how frozen/cold the cookie dough, and your oven. The photo above shows the golden brown tinges that you are looking for to determine “doneness”.

If you are baking the cookies right away, shape into balls. (I use my ice cream scoop when wickedly lazy and wish for large cookies. It works great with this recipe. I might just have to invest in the little cookie scoops.)

Place the cookies on a cookie sheet covered with a silpat or parchment paper. Bake for 11-13 minutes for small cookies or for 15 – 18 minutes for large ones.

Remove from the oven when the top begins to turn golden brown. (See the photo above.) Allow the cookies to cool for 3-4 minutes before attempting to move them on to a cooling rack. Cool and pack for transport to work (or to a hiding place in the kitchen for your secret stash of goodness).

These look fantastic! I will definitely be making them soon.
Boo to paperwork, but Yeah to teaching! Teachers rock! (no, I’m not one, but my kids have had fantastic teachers, it makes all the difference)

I’m a teacher too, and the little snippet of your daily life you shared is so much like mine! I don’t have kids, but the paperwork, oh my! And why in the world are schools the last entities in the world to still have forms in triplicate and cum records on cardstock??? Thankfully, there are homemade cookies.

I made these last night and used teff flour, since I had some on hand and wanted to use it up. They turned out great! I also used almond butter. Whole family loved them. My husband commented that no one would ever know they were gluten free.

Thanks, this is the first GF cookie recipe I’ve been 100% pleased with!
Next up, white chocolate and macadamia.

I did make some VERY minor adjustments. I added quite a few more oats than your recipe states, because I’m slightly insane. I tend to make oatmeal cookies without any flour and just use oats. It’s my firm belief that if an oatmeal cookie is named as such, it better have a metric ton of oats. Surprisingly, the addition of more oats had little/no effect on the wet/dry ratio.
Second, I used fewer chocolate chips. Just a personal preference. But I did use both semi-sweet and dark chips. It added a very nice complexity to the flavor profile.
I used palm sugar instead of white sugar mostly because I’ve been wanting to try the palm sugar and figured this was a good excuse. Palm sugar is not as sweet or as dry as white and is more earthy in flavor. I very much liked the less sweet, more earthy flavor. But I should really use white next time to have a true comparison.
I used goat butter because I wanted a lactose-free version (or, tolerable for my sister’s husband version).
I halved the recipe so I wouldn’t gorge on cookies (though I still used 1 whole egg and used 1 teaspoon of vanilla instead of halving it, which -might- have contributed to why the additional oats didn’t dry the cookie out beyond hope) . It halves easily and well.
And I used your flour mix (the white rice/potato/etc etc) which I quartered so that the original 4-1/4 cup amount would equal ~1/2cup. It quartered easily and well.

Again, thank you and I apologize for my long-windedness. Also, although he doesn’t know it, my sister’s husband thanks you as well.

I have been looking for this recipe for ages and now you have created it–thanks!

Also, have you ever successfully made a GF Angel Food Cake? I’m itching to use up all the egg whites in my freezer, but the 1 time I tried it, it was such a terrible flop I’m a little scared to try again. So—a request for you in your school break time! Thanks.

I have been looking at this recipe every day since you posted it and finally decided today was the day to try them out. I couldn’t find any sweet rice flour here in Australia so I just added a spoon of castor sugar to my rice flour hoping it would work. Apparently the castor sugar did work, the cookies are amazing…WOW. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences with us, you’ve made my GF journey better :))

Hi Liz –
I’m so happy it worked well for you. I personally think I have an addiction to these babies now… LOL!
-Kate
PS.. you can substitute tapioca starch flour for the sweet rice flour in the future too.

I need to make these cookies immediately….they look amazing! My two favorite cookies are oatmeal chocolate chip, and peanut butter, but I never thought to put the two together! I like how your recipe doesn’t call for gums either.

Thought I’d give these a try and they were great. Some friends dropped by as I was pulling them from the oven. They had no idea they were GF and she asked me for the recipe. Since then I have given this recipe to other GF friends that have also loved them. Best texture in a GF cookie that I have tried yet….Thanks a bunch

Hello, I just wanted to say thank you – I have been frantically searching for an oatmeal chocolate chip recipe, since I got my hands on GF oats yesterday. Peanut butter is an interesting addition. These look delicious!

I make these every other week. I originally found this recipe on browneyedbaker.com and subbed in sorghum, brown rice flour, and tapioca starch….1/2 cup each plus one extra tablespoon of sorghum. The gluten-eating man would rather eat these than ANY OTHER COOKIE! My best guess is about 250 calories per cookie when making 16…..so I stay far far away from them after they’re baked! Of course, I ALWAYS lick the bowl!!

OMGosh – I’d never seen that site before – LOVE how we both posted a recipe for these in February (2010 for her, 2011 for me). Makes me wonder what about February brought about the trifecta (oats, pb, and chocolate chips!) for both of us! Thanks for the reference to a new blog to read. (My RSS feeder currently has 459+ unread posts….apparently that is something else I’ve been slacking on…LOL!)

[…] was gluten free so Luke could eat them and one that I thought Ryan would like too. This lovely Gluten Free Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe showed up on google search and I just knew it would be the right one. I have tried recipes […]